Greenwood Park secured a convincing win over St.Albans III’s on their penultimate league game of the season.

Having set St. Albans 213 to win, Park bowled them out for just 74 inside 26 overs.

After heavy rain on the Friday, Captain Chris Kent won the toss and decided to bat first, which at the time split opinion in the home dressing room.

However Jimmy Otter, who was replacing the missing Ed Gay, started the innings off with a streaky 4 before Vishal Pujari punished the short bowling from the St. Albans opener, proving the rain had little affect on the wicket.
Pujari raced to 24 before misjudging a leg stump yorker, which brought Kent to the crease in the 5th over.
Both Otter and Kent rotated the strike well before the former hit his second all run four in as many weeks.
Otter looked to push on but was bowled on 24 and then Shafaat Hussain came and went without troubling the scorers.

Ankur Arora joined Kent, who showed glimpses of his best but could only manage a scratchy 31.

This sparked a mini collapse with Kent, Arora and Arslan Khan all departing in quick succession.

This brought both Sam Nash and Ajmal Hussain to the crease, with the former looking in great touch – hitting two great cover drives.

Hussain took the attack to the St Albans bowling, scoring a fantastic 49 and a contributing a 65-run partnership in 10 overs with Nash.

Vinil Palai produced a quick-fire 21 before falling with one ball left in the innings, as Greenwood posted a respectable 212.

After the break, A. Hussain and Troy Petchey opened the bowling with great effect.

Petchey took two wickets in his spell and both kept the run rate well below the required rate.

Shafaat Hussain collected 2-4 from three overs before Palai blew away what was remaining of St. Albans’ tail.

It was left to Nathaan Shetty who wrapped up the game, ending with 1-0 from 10 deliveries.

It was a strong all-round performance from Park and one that moves them one win away from claiming the Division Eight A title.